Luka’s Future In LA? Warriors, Suns & Deadline Teams To Watch

Summary

Podcast Summary: Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective – "Luka’s Future In LA? Warriors, Suns & Deadline Teams To Watch"

Release Date: February 5, 2025
Hosts: Brian Windhorst (ESPN NBA Insider) and Bobby Marks
Podcast Title: Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective

---

1. Introduction

Brian Windhorst and Bobby Marks kick off the episode by reflecting on past NBA trade dramas, setting the stage for an in-depth discussion on the current trade deadline's pivotal moments. They establish the podcast's focus on unraveling the complexities of NBA trades and team strategies.

---

2. Luka Doncic’s Trade and Its Implications

Discussion Highlights:

• Unexpected Trade: The trade of Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers by the Dallas Mavericks has sent shockwaves through the NBA. Both hosts express surprise and analyze the circumstances leading to the trade.

• Contractual Nuances: The conversation delves into the intricacies of NBA contract rules, particularly the Supermax designation and how being traded affects a player’s ability to secure such contracts.

Notable Quotes:

• Brian Windhorst [10:01]: "Once you get traded, you lose the ability to get the Supermax."

• Bobby Marks [10:31]: "Once you get traded, if you're traded in your first four years in a league, you can still carry us with you."

Key Insights:

• The Supermax is designed to reward players who stay with their teams through their initial contracts, preventing them from leveraging trades to secure higher-value contracts prematurely.
• Luka’s trade alters his contract trajectory, limiting his earning potential and impacting the Lakers' salary cap flexibility.

---

3. Los Angeles Lakers’ Strategic Dilemmas

Discussion Highlights:

• Roster Construction: With Luka’s absence from potential Supermax contracts, the Lakers face strategic challenges in assembling a competitive roster without overextending financially.

• Center Position Crisis: The Lakers are grappling with the need to secure a reliable center, a position that remains thin in the current market.

Notable Quotes:

• Brian Windhorst [12:11]: "What can Luka do? This summer, now that the Supermax isn't around."

• Bobby Marks [13:07]: "The logical decision would be if he extends would be a shorter deal, similar to what Donovan Mitchell did this summer."

Key Insights:

• The Lakers may need to explore creative contract structures or trade assets to bolster their center position without jeopardizing financial stability.
• Shorter contracts with player options could offer flexibility for both the team and the player, allowing adjustments based on team performance and player development.

---

4. Golden State Warriors’ Internal Tensions and Aggressive Moves

Discussion Highlights:

• Ownership Pressure: Draymond Green conveys dissatisfaction from owner Joe Lake regarding team performance, indicating potential shifts in team strategy and player personnel.

• Aggressive Trade Strategies: The Warriors are actively seeking to enhance their roster, reminiscent of their past pursuits of stars like LeBron James and Paul George.

Notable Quotes:

• Brian Windhorst [20:24]: "Draymond Green said after the game, and I'm paraphrasing, he said Joe Lake, the owner, is not happy. We're 500 and when Joe's not happy, things happen."

• Bobby Marks [21:49]: "A Golden State team that's hanging on, trying to hang on for, to get into the play-in."

Key Insights:

• The Warriors are under considerable pressure to perform, which may lead to significant roster changes in pursuit of championship contention.
• Balancing aggression in trades with maintaining team chemistry remains a critical challenge for the Warriors’ management.

---

5. Phoenix Suns’ Strategic Pivot and Potential Moves

Discussion Highlights:

• Jimmy Butler’s Contract Situation: Butler's uncertain future and his interactions with potential trade destinations pose strategic challenges for the Suns.

• Bradley Beal’s Trade Potential: The Suns are evaluating the viability of trading Bradley Beal to improve team dynamics and address contract constraints.

Notable Quotes:

• Brian Windhorst [22:45]: "Jimmy Butler's price might be low enough that they say to just do it regardless whether they can get him to the extension."

• Bobby Marks [23:21]: "The reality is, if you are Phoenix and you're sitting at 500 and you got swept a year ago, what makes you think things are going to be different a year from now?"

Key Insights:

• The Suns are navigating a tight salary cap environment, making strategic decisions on trading star players to maintain flexibility.
• Acquiring players like Jimmy Butler could reinvigorate the Suns’ playoff aspirations but requires careful financial and roster planning.

---

6. Trade Deadline Teams to Watch

Discussion Highlights:

• New Orleans Pelicans: Focused on retaining Brandon Ingram while managing luxury tax implications, likely to engage in trades to stay financially viable.

• Milwaukee Bucks: Potential moves around key players like Brook Lopez and Chris Portis to optimize team performance without compromising future flexibility.

• Brooklyn Nets and Other 'Middleman' Teams: Exploring opportunities to facilitate trades, leveraging their position to acquire valuable assets without overcommitting.

Notable Quotes:

• Bobby Marks [32:49]: "I'm keeping an eye on Atlanta. Atlanta is no incentive to lose because they don't have their pick."

• Brian Windhorst [35:10]: "There's an imbalance that is happening with too many teams having too many picks."

Key Insights:

• Several teams are poised to make strategic trades to bolster their rosters for the remainder of the season while keeping future flexibility intact.
• The abundance of draft picks is influencing trade dynamics, with pick-rich teams seeking to balance their assets through targeted trades.

---

7. Future Outlook and Summer Implications

Discussion Highlights:

• Lakers and Future Trades: The Lakers' current positioning suggests potential trades aimed at securing pivotal roles and addressing team weaknesses ahead of the summer.

• Dallas Mavericks and Kyrie Irving: Irving's upcoming free agency adds another layer of complexity to the Mavericks' rebuilding efforts.

Notable Quotes:

• Brian Windhorst [40:12]: "If you have the third worst record, you have the same odds as the first worst record."

• Bobby Marks [41:49]: "Well, the reality of it is, if you are Phoenix and you're sitting at 500 and you got swept a year ago, what makes you think things are going to be different a year from now?"

Key Insights:

• The trade deadline is setting the stage for significant offseason moves, with teams evaluating their current trajectories and future aspirations.
• Player free agency, particularly with high-impact players like Kyrie Irving, will play a crucial role in shaping team strategies and league dynamics moving forward.

---

8. Conclusion

Brian Windhorst and Bobby Marks wrap up the episode by acknowledging the unpredictable nature of NBA trade deadlines. They emphasize the importance of staying informed and adaptable as teams continue to maneuver for optimal outcomes both in the remainder of the season and heading into the offseason.

Closing Thoughts:

• Brian Windhorst [46:23]: "After 22 years covering the NBA, I just say it'll all work out. Don't worry."
• Bobby Marks [45:49]: "We'll have a great show on Thursday. Hopefully some of the bigger stuff."

---

Final Notes: This episode of "Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective" offers a comprehensive analysis of the NBA trade deadline's critical developments, focusing on key player movements, team strategies, and the broader implications for the league's competitive landscape. Listeners gain valuable insights into the complexities of NBA contracts, team dynamics, and the strategic considerations that drive significant trade decisions.

Transcript

[Bobby Marks]

Welcome to Nadia Yada island, next on.

[Brian Windhorst]

Metro's Nadia Yada island podcast.

[Bobby Marks]

I almost fainted when the four new bombshells arrived. Four free Samsung Galaxy A16.

[Brian Windhorst]

5G phones at Metro.

[Bobby Marks]

No way. And finding out the fourth line is free.

[Brian Windhorst]

Things got heated.

[Bobby Marks]

That's wild. Join Metro and get four free Samsung 5G phones only at Metro plus tax.

[Brian Windhorst]

Bring four numbers and an ID and sign up for any Metro Flex plan not available currently at T Mobile or have been with Metro in the past 180 days.

[Bobby Marks]

Foreign.

[Brian Windhorst]

Welcome to the Hoop Collective podcast. We talk about the NBA, which we're doing on. What day is it?

[Bobby Marks]

Tuesday.

[Brian Windhorst]

Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles here. I'm here with our Front Office insider. I don't like calling you Front Office Insider. It sounds like you only can talk about the front office stuff. Bobby Marks.

[Bobby Marks]

Hello, Brian, good to see you again.

[Brian Windhorst]

We're in our LA store, we're in our LA podcast studio here because we're here for trade deadline and it's been an eventful week so far and I am, I'm very scared that by the time people watch and hear this, that things will have happened and we'll either have junked this podcast and had done another emergency one or we'll sound foolish. So it is Tuesday, February 4th, in the afternoon. Just to timestamp it. When this LUCA trade went down the other day, I thought of a trade you are part of. What year was Darren Williams Trade?

[Bobby Marks]

2011.

[Brian Windhorst]

Okay.

[Bobby Marks]

Post. Yeah, that, that another one of those trades. Not the Darren trade, the Carmelo pop potential trade. You know, those take years off your life because you. We had been, we had been chasing Carmelo since September of 2010. And then of course, you know, New York comes in and the Knicks wind up getting him. And that's when All Star Weekend was in la. I remember meeting with, meeting with Carmelo in, I don't know, some fancy restaurant and Jay Z was there and all. And then get an indication Sunday that he's going to New York. And that's when All Star Weekend was, before the trade deadline.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right. So there was some crazy stuff that.

[Bobby Marks]

Went down there and we go, so Monday we all convene and I go up and with Darren Williams was not on our radar, trust me. I go up to Billy King's office and he goes, Billy King was a.

[Brian Windhorst]

General manager of the Nets at the time.

[Bobby Marks]

He goes, what do you think about Darren Williams? I said, heck of a point guard. He goes, I. I think we can get him. I've Talked with Kevin O'Connor who was their GM at the time. And. And Darren had a little bit of falling out with Jerry Sloan, I think, the week before.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right.

[Bobby Marks]

But nobody, nothing.

[Brian Windhorst]

Nobody thought he was going to be traded. I mean, unless my memory is off, the last time an All Star was traded completely out of the blue was Darren Williams.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

And, you know, you guys had put the package together to offer the Nuggets for Carmelo. You were pursuing Carmelo. Carmelo goes to the Knicks. And so everybody knew that you were willing to trade.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah. It was basically kind of a reduced package. It was like the. I mean, they're still good players. It was Derek Favors, who. Poor Derek Favors. We had picked him third in the draft the year before, and he was in trade rumors in September. I remember going down there in training camp and Carmelo's name was being mentioned and Derek Favors and Devin Harris was part of the trade. And we traded two ones. One turned into Ennis Cantor Freedom. At the time.

[Brian Windhorst]

That was a lot of high lottery.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah. Three, I think the third pick. But the thing was with that trade was. Is that we slept on it.

[Brian Windhorst]

Okay. Didn't leak. Right.

[Bobby Marks]

Did not leak. We slept on it and the next day pulled the trigger. And. And then. And it's. But it's similar. I mean, not. Listen, what happened on Saturday night is seismic. It's. It's similar to the point where we didn't. We had never had discussions with, I believe, Jeff. Jeff Schwartz eventually became his agent. I think Jeff might have been his agent at the time. Darren had a year and a half left on his contract.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right. Kind of like Luca does right now.

[Bobby Marks]

We had no indication we were still in. We were playing in Newark, New Jersey.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right. Going to Prudential center.

[Bobby Marks]

Going eventually going to Brooklyn in 2012.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right.

[Bobby Marks]

And. And then the lockout was coming.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right.

[Bobby Marks]

Two.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah.

[Bobby Marks]

We had no idea if Darren Williams was going to resign with us, but we swung for the fences there. And. And that's how that kind of deal. That. That's how that deal transpired.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah. So that was just. That came out of the blue. I always envisioned that, you know, the Jazz called up and said, hey, that trade you offered for Carmelo, yeah, we'll take it for Darren Williams. What. And.

[Bobby Marks]

Well, the funny part is that we had a. When we were doing the Carmelo stuff, we had a binder because Pete, what happened was so. Masai Usuri, who's now the president of the Toronto. Ralph.

[Brian Windhorst]

He's running the Nuggets. At the time, he.

[Bobby Marks]

He had. That was his first job. Messiah was a scout Right. And I just remember all these different things that happened. I was in Disney World with my younger Mather. They were little. And I remember Billy calling me, hey, there's this guy in Toronto, I mean, in Denver named Masai. You know, him and stuff. What happened was, is that the negotiations between Denver and us, Billy and side, became so hostile that basically myself and Pete, Del, Sandra, who now. Who's now with the magic, were the lead person. People in this.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah.

[Bobby Marks]

And that's. We were. And so we had this whole binder with everything, and then we eventually, as far as just, you know, it was a kind of a water down, not a water down. Utah still got good value out of that. But that's. Yeah, that's how that kind of.

[Brian Windhorst]

Well, I will say, since we're telling stories at the start of this, which I don't even know why we're doing this on trade deadline week, but I. It's my podcast, so I don't care. The general manager of the Nuggets who Masai replaced was Mark Warkentin. Mark Warkentin and I were friends, and Mark Warkentin had been let. He was executive of the year and got let go by the. Many executives over the years who have been very good by the Nuggets have been let go, basically because Stan Kroenke, the owner, doesn't like to pay executives. Long story short, and the most recent one was Tim Connolly. But Mark Warkentin was one messiah. Jerry was one. Tim Connolly was one. We'll see what happens with Calvin Booth. So Mark Warkentin had been let go. He couldn't come to terms on a contract. He had been executive of the year. He wasn't, like, fired. He was just. Contract ran out, and Mark was essentially working for the Knicks. Yeah, I mean, this is all secret at the time, but I remember having dinner with Mark in Portland. He lived in Portland, and he had his full sheet out of how he was advising the Knicks to deal with the Nuggets on how to get Carmelo. And he was later hired by the Knicks and worked for many years in their front office. Mark passed away recently, which is why I have no problem telling this story.

[Bobby Marks]

The running joke. And this is. I never told this story. The. The running joke was about seven months later, my wife and I had gotten invited to the Kim Kardashian Kris Humphrey's wedding.

[Brian Windhorst]

This is. This is. I. I'm. I'm here for this.

[Bobby Marks]

And this is how we're gonna.

[Brian Windhorst]

We're gonna get record numbers on this pod. Jackson's Gonna say Kim Kardashian.

[Bobby Marks]

At one time in North New Jersey, we had Kim Kardashian and Maria Sharapova because she was dating Sasha V. We had both of them. And so we had gotten invited to the wedding in Santa Barbara. I think it was at Oprah's.

[Brian Windhorst]

Oprah's. Oprah's house.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah. And it was black tie.

[Brian Windhorst]

And isn't that Ojai? Isn't that, like, technically Ojai? All right, forget about. I'm not interrupting you.

[Bobby Marks]

And it was black tie. And I remember going. And I wore a white tuxedo jack because I wanted to stand out.

[Brian Windhorst]

Good move, Bobby.

[Bobby Marks]

And I pulled up, and Carmelo was there with a white tuxedo jacket on. And I said to him, it was bad enough that we didn't get you. Now you just stole my moment.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right.

[Bobby Marks]

But the wedding is another podcast in itself. But, yes, we were.

[Brian Windhorst]

I'm here for it, by the way.

[Bobby Marks]

I'm here for that podcast with Chris Humphries. The funniest is always people ask me, would you get him? And I said, I didn't get anything because I knew in three months, they were probably going to be divorced. So there's, like, kind of that unwritten rule.

[Brian Windhorst]

Well, I remember at the time, Woj was writing for Yahoo, and, you know, he was breaking stories left and right. He was. You know, he was writing these columns that were like flaming missiles. Like, you know, he was a great columnist. He was ripping David Stern. And, you know, Yahoo Was a major. Used to work for Yahoo. Obviously, Yahoo at the time was like a major portal site. You know, one of the leaders. Probably more hits than espn. And his number one story that he ever did not, like, whatever trade he ever broke. I can't even remember what his great trades were with Yahoo. Was when I think it was very basic, that source colon Kris Humphries did not know Kardashian was filing some. Some Humphries divorce story. Like, got 275 million. Yeah, like Sham's tweet.

[Bobby Marks]

93 million, I think.

[Brian Windhorst]

I think. I think it's even higher than that. You know, like, he may never. Shams may break a thousand stories and not add up to.

[Bobby Marks]

Well, I'm sure it will. That night will go. That Saturday night or Sunday morning will go down as. I mean. I mean, like.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah.

[Bobby Marks]

What did you think when you saw that?

[Brian Windhorst]

You know, I'm desensitized to everything.

[Bobby Marks]

I was like, it did kind of.

[Brian Windhorst]

No. To me, it was. I cannot believe that the Mavericks.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

Traded Luca. And as I. You Know, as I thought about it more, I mean, we did the podcast shortly thereafter.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

But at the minute I saw it, I was just like, wow, like there's something happened with Luca.

[Bobby Marks]

Right.

[Brian Windhorst]

And the more I worked on it, I know they just. They just didn't like them. And, you know, I had this. This guy who's an All Star, who I. Who I know he's an All Star, current All Star now he texted me. He's like, wow, they really, really hate him. And I won't say anything more because I don't want to.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

But this. This. This person has a very large contract.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

And I was like, can you imagine if you were about to sign your contract?

[Bobby Marks]

That was the first thing I thought of when he got traded.

[Brian Windhorst]

What is the. I've been like, using general numbers. Would you tell me the exact numbers we're talking about here?

[Bobby Marks]

5 for 345. Largest contract in NBA history. That's what he was eligible for.

[Brian Windhorst]

This actually is a spin forward. So today, Luca had his first press conference. He didn't say a whole heck of a lot. One thing that he did say was that because there had been some speculation or maybe somebody reported it, but there had been speculation that the reason he didn't. The reason that they traded him was because he had indicated he wouldn't sign that supermax, which I found absurd. But I don't know. I don't know everything. And he was like, absolutely not. He's like, easy question. And of course. Easy question. Excuse me, sir. Would you have accepted that $350 million contract? Yes, I would. Okay, thank you. But now the Lakers don't have that.

[Bobby Marks]

Once.

[Brian Windhorst]

Once you get traded, you lose the ability to get the Super.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah. Once you get. If you're. If you're traded in your first four years in a league, you can still carry us with you. But once you. Once you get your. He's basically just like any other person.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right.

[Bobby Marks]

There's still some. In some incentives, certainly more years and more. Bigger increase. But, but, but, no, as I said yesterday, it's basically kind of a level. A little bit of a level playing field.

[Brian Windhorst]

The reason that that rule exists is they don't want somebody to get their first max contract and then force a trade and then still get the Supermax. They want you to have to stay through your whole first contract to get the supermax. And then once you sign the supermax, you're not allowed to be traded for a year.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah. Right.

[Brian Windhorst]

So they want to prevent you from even, like, getting the Supermax and going, ha, ha. Now that I got it, I'm out of here.

[Bobby Marks]

Well, remember it used to be too, that you can only have two guys on per team.

[Brian Windhorst]

That's right. So that.

[Bobby Marks]

That went away with this cba.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right. So, by the way, I had a executive tell me the other day, you know, with the new CBA, there's really only 10 max players in this league.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah, I mean, that's a good point. I mean, there's certainly circumstantial max.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right.

[Bobby Marks]

Like, no offense to Paul George in Philly. I mean, I think that's kind of a circumstantial based on the circum. You know, based on everything that happened there. And. But yeah, there's. I mean, there's probably, you know, handful. Handful of guys.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah. But I would thought Luca was on that list.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah, I thought too, like, even, like we were on. On Tuesday, we're talking on tv, like, you know, like, certainly the list of guys and I would like, you know, Shay and Giannis and Jokic and Curry and certainly LeBron and, you know, that group. And then you're thinking like, well, wait a minute, like, Luca just got traded. Like, you can, you know, anybody could, right? I think they could. I just, man, it is. It's hard to keep it under wraps. That's the big. That's the biggest. That's one of the bigger takeaways from this.

[Brian Windhorst]

Well, one of the things, I think the athletic reported this. They reported that one of the reasons why the Lakers were able to keep their second first round pick is that the Lakers wanted to talk to Luka and say, hey, if you. We trade for you, will you sign here this summer?

[Bobby Marks]

Right.

[Brian Windhorst]

And the Mavericks didn't want Luka to know they wanted to get this deal done, and so they said, no, you can't. So Lakers said, well, you know, we may, you know, if we get here. And Luka says, no, I got to have this player or this. We need something to trade for it. And the Mavericks, if that is indeed true. And I, you know, I don't. I believe it. The Mavericks, like, okay, keeping this quiet is worth maybe even giving up another Laker pick.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

Because I think they were worried about what would happen if it got public. And so the Luca contract now becomes a little bit of a topic, which you brought up in our meeting. We had a production meeting and I haven't stopped thinking about. Not that I'm. I don't want to make it sound like I'm. The Lakers should be stressed, but what can Luca do? This summer, now that the Supermax isn't around.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah. Starting on August 2nd, he could extend for four years $229 million. That's the most that he, that he could extend for.

[Brian Windhorst]

Plus the fifth year, the year that he's got.

[Bobby Marks]

Plus he's got another, you know, so you're probably getting over 270ish somewhere around there.

[Brian Windhorst]

So the difference between 350 and 270?

[Bobby Marks]

Well, yeah, I mean. Well, no, but add another 3. 350 and then add another 50. So 400.

[Brian Windhorst]

400, yeah. So there's been 402. That doesn't include that Texas has 0% state income tax and California in the highest bracket I think is over 14%.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah. So he could do that. I think the logical decision would be if he extends would be a shorter deal, similar to kind of what Donovan Mitchell did this summer where you're basically doing a three year deal with a player option the third year because that would take him to 10 years of service and base 10. What 10 years of service means is that he could sign for 35% of the salary cap, which is essentially the Supermax.

[Brian Windhorst]

What the Supermax really is, is, you know, you're allowed to get a certain level of max with four years or three years experience. Three years experience. Right. Then with seven years experience, you get the next level, which is 5% more. And then at 10 years you get 5% more. And that 5% is a lot. Okay. So what you're basically able to do with the Supermax essentially is for that second max contract, what I call the stress max, the fun max. The stress max, the legacy max. If you sign for the stress max, you get the legacy max price. So you get the 10 year price at year seven. So it's, it is basically incentivizes you. It's like speeding up, you know how shaq says I'm G15 certified or whatever. It's like speeding up from G10 to G15 anyway. So, you know, it's not nothing that the Lakers, you know, and August 2nd's key because he will get to see what the Lakers do in July. He'll get to, you know, see how the season plays out. What the Lakers do in July, he'll know what their roster is when he gets to have that put in front of him.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah, I mean in the roster is pretty much, you know, certainly things can happen on up to the deadline. Really the only players that are free agents are the guys on the minimum contracts. Christian Wood, Jackson Hayes, Cam Reddish, you know, those are Everyone else's under. Certainly LeBron is going to be, you know, certainly that we'll circle him because he's got a player option here. But the roster is. It is, it is what it is. You've got your, you know, certainly Dalton connect. And as we, what we'll learn is certainly how this, how does the backcourt work him and Austin Reese Because Austin Reeves at the end of the day is their biggest outside of that pick in 2031. That's their biggest trade Chip. So there is work to do. Rob Polinka in the, the press conference on Tuesday said that like he self he's aware of what they need to do. But as much as we like to talk about trades like it takes two to tango, right? You got to find a partner.

[Brian Windhorst]

How much do you think Rob Polinka's jacket cost? Malika? Who knows Fine clothing, she pegged it 4200.

[Bobby Marks]

I wish I had his style. I wish I had his like 4 more inches of height. You know, I could be that height. But. Yeah, but no but I mean as I said, like he's self aware. He said it like he like and it was a great question. I was like, does there feel like added pressure and like no, like he's like I felt pressure ever since I've taken the job.

[Brian Windhorst]

Oh my God. I got, I got to look at this text. I want to get it right. So I was, I was texting another exact high ranking executive about, about the Lakers today and I go, hey, what'd you think of Rob's, Rob's jacket? Just joking because the whole league was watching that press conference. He goes, he could be wearing a Speedo right now if he wanted to. He's got a lifetime job after that trade. So I, I appreciated that. Yeah. So just the Lakers do have to, you know, they, you know, right now as we do this podcast, we'll see what happens tonight with the Clippers, but they are tied with the Nuggets in the loss column for fourth. So like they're in good shape and they got Luka Doncic and I don't know how their team, I think if they don't have a big man, they're going to be in trouble. But I do think Polinka said that the center market was dry.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah, I do. I. Because I think the biggest name out there is, is Miles Turner. And Miles Turner is an interesting name because there's certainly a priority in Indiana to sign him. Yes, he's one of these unique cases where he's not extension eligible. Usually you get to a point, like.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right.

[Bobby Marks]

Like him and D'Angelo Russell, Brook Lopez, kind of three guys that are just. They're not, you know, he. He doesn't fit the criteria. But why I mentioned Indiana. Indiana is playing really good basketball.

[Brian Windhorst]

They really believe in their team.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah. They're, you know, top six in the Eastern Conference. They've kind of gotten back on good footing, and in the Miles Turner situation, they can figure. They can figure that out in the summer.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah.

[Bobby Marks]

They're $20 million below the luxury tax. They potentially could go into tax, but also they could make some moves to give them some more flexibility.

[Brian Windhorst]

I don't think their intention is to go in the tax.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah, no, no, no, no. Not. Not next year, I don't think.

[Brian Windhorst]

But the reason that people. You know, I just spent some time with the Pacers in Paris, and they love Miles Turner.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

I think they want to keep him, but there is a. There is a bit of a crunch there because they signed Andrew Nemhardt to an extension and his money comes on. Plus, Tyler Hero is on a supermax. Tyler Hero.

[Bobby Marks]

Halbert Tyler Halliburton.

[Brian Windhorst]

Two Wisconsin guys. Tyrese Halliburton. Sorry. And Pascal Siakam is on Max. And so those contracts go up a lot. Like, you know.

[Bobby Marks]

Well, the funny thing about Indiana is that. And this was. A team executive had mentioned this to me last year, like, with this new cba, like, they're the perfect team. Right? Two Max guys. And then like, like, everyone else between, like, zero and 20 million.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah.

[Bobby Marks]

And then. But then those 20 million, like, keeps on adding up.

[Brian Windhorst]

20 million. Six. That was 20.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah. Someone breaks through that barrier. So now if you're Miles Turner and you're 20 now, it's like all of a sudden getting expensive. But I do think that the center market is. Is. Is somewhat thin. Listen, you know, Robert Williams and Portland's another name.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bobby Marks]

But are you. I mean, you've got one. You've got one big trade asset. You're limited on your seconds. Yeah, I. So that's. That's the hard part as far as having the patience to maybe wait and maybe there's something better comes.

[Brian Windhorst]

Don't worry, Laker fans. It'll all work out. That's. That's. That's my thing. After 22 years covering the NBA, I just say it'll all work out. Don't worry.

[Bobby Marks]

More Hoop Collective podcast after this.

[Brian Windhorst]

Grainger knows space at your facility is limited. As a maintenance specialist, you only have so many spots for backup products in your inventory roster, which means space on your bench comes at a premium. But when it comes to breadth and depth, Grainger's got you covered. They've got over 1 million industrial grade products. Plus fast delivery helps reduce the inventory you need to keep on hand, freeing up space and capital while giving your operation a winning edge. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by a local branch.

[Malika Andrews]

I don't just stand on business, I live it 247 because you don't become a young entrepreneur by staying stagnant. Whether I'm chasing deals, networking or taking calls from behind the wheel of my Toyota Crown, I'm always in motion. You may think launching a successful startup is enough to be satisfied, but me, I'm just getting started. It's a new day at Toyota led by a new generation of drivers and we want you to know one thing. You can't stop my drive. Toyota. Let's go places.

[Brian Windhorst]

The team that's fascinating and I am openly admitting that things could all be different by the time Pod posts But the Golden State warriors, after the game that they had, they played the Orlando Magic on Monday night, they won and they're about to go on a long road trip of, I think it's seven games starts here in LA on Thursday. And Draymond Green said after the game, and I'm paraphrasing, he said Joe Lake, the owner, is not happy. We're 500 and when Joe's not happy, things happen. And there's, there's tension right now. And you know, he was smiling a little bit, but you could see it on his face. There was tension. And I know that we've gone through these phases with the warriors and it was just a couple of weeks ago where Steve Kerr and Steph Curry were like, yeah, we can't do anything desperate, ladies and gentlemen, that is out the window. The warriors are being uber aggressive now. They were aggressive last year when they tried to get LeBron James. They were aggressive last summer when they tried to get Paul George and Lowry Markkanen. Just because you're being aggressive doesn't mean they're getting the star, but they are absolutely being aggressive and I really can't predict what's going to happen or nothing.

[Bobby Marks]

Bobby well, and that's the beauty of the trade deadline is because it's, you know, what games impact react. I mean your decision is not in July in Las Vegas at summer league, right? You're, you have real, it's like real life situations here. A Golden State team that's hanging on, that's you know, trying to hang on for, to get into the play in. I think they're tied with Phoenix as of Tuesday.

[Brian Windhorst]

As of right now, 9, 10 and 11 are all tied. Yeah, Sack, Lakers, Suns, it's a real strong Pacific Division 500 basketball showing there.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah, I mean, and they have like I said this on TV on Tuesday, like there's a part of you that says, you know what, hey, just pick up your chips and walk away. Yeah, right. Come back, I'll see you in five months. But then there's the other part is like you've got, you got Curry on your roster. How do you add to what you can, what you can add to the roster and not knowing that someone else might be there and we don't know who's going to be available come come July. So if it is Jimmy Butler and there's no guarantee that he's going to extend or sign, I always say that he's, he's got that 52 million dollar player option, don't forget about that. And they've got all these expirings. Like there's like once you get in, once we get past the deadline, like the expirings don't mean anything anymore. And the Wiggins contract's huge. So that's your big, that's your big number, right? Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

Wiggins has been playing better recently. The body of work is pretty big right now. It's not like you're, oh, maybe Wiggins, you know, you know what you're getting with Andrew Wiggins, but he has been playing better in the last few weeks.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah. And you've got, you've got your younger players coming, has been hurt and you've got, you know, they're one of those few teams that has most of their draft picks. They can trade three in the next, in the next seven years. So they are, they are sitting in a, in a pretty good spot if they, if they want to just pounce on it. And listen, doesn't change, I don't know, does it change the move, the needle? We'll see. Yeah, I mean that's the biggest, that's the biggest thing.

[Brian Windhorst]

Well, the thing with Jimmy Butler, he's telling everybody he's not going to extend and he's doing that not because he hates the Grizzlies or hates the warriors, but because he's trying to force that way to the Suns. And the Suns are trying like crazy. We'll talk about them in a few minutes. The Suns are trying like crazy to pull off this miracle. But at some point, if that door closes, they just can't do anything. Jimmy doesn't want to be in Miami. And at the end of the day, as you mentioned earlier, a team might call Jimmy's bluff that he's really going to walk away from 52 million into a market that doesn't have that many teams with cap space. And, you know, if you get Jimmy and he's motivated because he has to make sure he gets his contract and he. And even if he picks up that $52 million option, he then becomes a $52 million expiring contract. Teams could talk themselves into that. And there's also the possibility of this. You could trade for Jimmy Butler now, play him out for the rest of the season, and then he could opt out of his contract. You could sign and trade him in the summer. If he found a place he could go to, you could sign and trade them. And, you know, the warriors have to consider that they've had difficulty getting this star player because they haven't been willing to include all their stuff. They have been willing to include Pajemski, they haven't been willing to include Kaminga. They have first round picks to trade. They haven't wanted to give them all away. And the Jimmy Butler price might be low enough that they say to just do it regardless whether they can get him to the extension. But it may not just be Butler. Like, look, it's, it's out there. They've called on Durant and, you know, I can tell you that there's a debate out there, like, did the Kings or did they, did the Suns call or did the warriors call? I don't know. I'm not trying to say who called who. They've discussed Kevin Durant.

[Bobby Marks]

Well, yes, and I think they're, as I've said before, there, there, there has to be that conversation just because of where Phoenix is. They're right where Golden State is, right. They've, they've lost three at our last four. They just lost in Portland. Portland team was playing really well.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, nine out of ten.

[Bobby Marks]

We can punt them out of the Cooper flag.

[Brian Windhorst]

Can I just apologize? I want to apologize to two teams right now. I want to apologize to the Grizzlies who have won nine out of 10. And I want to apologize to the Portland Trailblazers and their fans. We all, we never talk about the Trailblazers. I'm sorry, we will get to you, but there's too much BLEEP going on. I'm sorry that the Blazers and Tumani Kamara and Denny Advia, who's. They made a really good trade to get him. Deandre Ayton had 20 and 20 the other night. I'm sorry, we don't have. We don't. I don't. I can't do it. I can't do it right now. But yeah, I mean, if you're the Suns and you just took it in the teeth twice in Portland, you're not feeling too good about your situation, and if you can't turn Bradley Beal into Jimmy Butler, if you exhaust yourself and do that, you're looking at a reality where Kevin Durant is going to be one year left on his free on his contract and you either extend him this summer or what. And so they've kind. I've described it as if they can't trade Beal and this team isn't working and Durant is one year left and you're not sure whether he's going to extend. Next thing you know, I've just painted your. You've just painted yourself into a corner. And so if somebody calls you or you have a call and wants to talk about Kevin Durant, you have to listen to that.

[Bobby Marks]

Well, yeah, I mean, the reality of it is, is that if you are Phoenix and you're sitting at 500 and you got swept a year ago, what makes you think things are going to be different a year from, from now? And the reality is, is if you don't, if, if you can't find a home, you can't trade Bradley Beal. Yeah, you're basically, it's the same. And, and they, I mean, they have some more optionality. I said, you know, with the picks and they're trying to trade Nurkage and, you know, but they're still second, you know, they're an ape still second apron team A a year from now. I think it's, it's worth exploring as far as what. Because when this thing ends in Phoenix, like, it's going to end bad.

[Brian Windhorst]

Well, unless they do something first, you know, and here's the other option. Just the concept of possibly trading Durant. You get a lot of stuff and even if you can then trade that stuff, right, and even maybe go acquire another player who maybe doesn't sink you down. Like, you're not, you're not breaking up a championship roster here. You know, you picked them. I don't want to.

[Bobby Marks]

I did.

[Brian Windhorst]

I don't want to poke you. I was a big believer in them last year. Yeah, but I was.

[Bobby Marks]

Well, I liked what they, you know, certainly I liked what they did in the off season. I like, you know, getting Tyus Jones and Mason Plumlee and Rice o'neal was.

[Brian Windhorst]

A good pickup last year.

[Bobby Marks]

I thought there was a lot of things that you could like about it. But then you watch like, you know, the game of Portland. TYUS Jones plays 17 minutes, right. Like he, you know, Duran and, and Booker and you know, you know, they're playing 40 minutes plus. So I, you know, Bud's trying to maximize as much as he can and the depth I thought they had is not, is not as good as we.

[Brian Windhorst]

We probably thought we said for the second consecutive year. Yeah, yeah. The Suns and Warriors are the two teams that are very volatile where anything could happen. And by the way, they could find a Jimmy Butler, they could find a Bradley Beal trade. There are some dim but realistic avenues out there for Beal. I'm skeptical after all these weeks, but they could land Butler and have their new trio and have a fighting chance. But they could also not and have to face some hard realities. So if you're a Suns fan and a Warriors fan between now and Thursday afternoon, buckle up.

[Bobby Marks]

More Hoop Collective podcast after this.

[Brian Windhorst]

Bobby, let's talk about some teams or some, maybe some players that we're still not sure what's going to happen with that might come down to Thursday. I'll start. How about Brandon Ingram? What we've heard almost nothing about.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah, I mean certainly we have not seen Brandon Ingram since he sprained that ankle. We knew we would eventually get to this point right before the trade deadline. Certainly when they didn't, did not agree to an extension in the off season. And I think if you're, if you're New Orleans right now, you have basically essentially two choices. You could keep Ingram and figure out something in the off season and assigned trade or you could look to move him, but probably at a less than desirable package. I think the biggest thing for them is that when you have Dejante Murray and C.J. mcCollum and Zion and Trey Murphy extension like they're not, like they're not in a position to take money back that extends long term here. So that's, that's certainly, as I said, I said this last week, everyone got a kick out of it. Go. They're going to make a trade 100%. Yeah, I agree. They're going to get under the luxury tax.

[Brian Windhorst]

I would almost argue that that is the biggest guarantee for Thursday because this is a team that's never paid the tax and they sure are as heck are not going to pay the tax. For this team. And you know, the thing about the tax is even if you're just a little bit into it, let's say you're $5 million worth of tax into it. It's more than that, right?

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah, it's 7. 7. 7.5 million. That's actually going to be changed though. They're doing in next and when the July rolls around, they've basically adjusted the tax rule where it's for the first bracket. The 0 to 5 bracket is going to be DOL. Dollar for dollar.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right. But if you're a dollar into the tax, let's just say for the sake of argument, you're a dollar into the tax. Yes. You may only be paying $3 in tax, but you don't get.

[Bobby Marks]

No, you don't get. And that was a big, that was a big thing teams had fought for. Certainly where what they wanted was that if you just dip in, maybe you get 60% of the tax distribution back here, but you do not get anything.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right. So last year, how much was the.

[Bobby Marks]

Distribution last year it was, it was like significant. This year is the, this year is the most ever. It'll be almost 16 million. I mean it could go down. I'll probably go down a little bit once. Every time a team we've had the Clips came out of it, we saw, well, Dallas came out.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, come out of the tax. But yeah, but basically here's the thing. If you, if you are in the tax, you're not only paying the tax but you're, you're losing everybody else's tax money. So if you dip out of the tax, it can be a 20 plus million dollar move. Even if it's just a couple million in. So New Orleans is going to get there 20.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah, they're gonna, they're gonna get out 1.4. When you're 1.4, you're going to get out. When you're, when you're Philly, Maybe you're at 6.6.5 after the Quentin Grimes trade. Hey, you've got, you know, Kelly Oubre. Right. And if you're, if you're a team that thinks you, you're going to lose guys a free agency, he's got a player option. Yabaselli is another guy like you and you're kind of. I was joking with team. I'm like, you know what? Philly's going to probably make the plan based on process of elimination. When you look at Chicago, who knows what happens with Atlanta but you. The goal is yes, it's a nice, it's a nice chunk of change that you get back.

[Brian Windhorst]

The thing about Brandon Ingram is that he's a high level player and you can get him for this year and help with your team this year. It may help your playoff positioning and then you get his rights and you know, the price frame is probably going to be pretty low. I was what I guess. And you might even be able to get New Orleans to take some money, especially if you give them even a little bit of draft capital. I'm keeping an eye on Atlanta. Atlanta is no incentive to lose because they don't have their pick. Their pick goes to San Antonio. They've been losing ever since Jalen Johnson got hurt. They have expiring contracts, but they also have a guy like Bogdan Bogdanovich who they owe money to next year that they might like to get off of. And if you get a guy like Brandon Ingram maybe helps you this year get in the play in, you know, they have a great record against the Cavs and the Celtics. You know, maybe they can do something and you know, that helps their young players with the experience and then maybe you can resign. Resign and trade them. Toronto is another team that's been linked to Brandon Ingram.

[Bobby Marks]

Well, they've got all those expirings. They've got Bruce Brown, Chris Boucher, you know, that's. That gets you a 32, 33 million dollars. And it's. You're right, like I always said this to an agent. I said the most valuable thing you could have is Bird rights. You know, that's, you know, we went through that exercise with Chris Paul who had Bird rights forever until he, you know, until he signed with San Antonio. He was waived by Golden State and signed with San Antonio. But because once you don't and you go into free agency, it's just, it's like the land of the unknown.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah. And there's so many things that you can do with Bird rights, you know.

[Bobby Marks]

Well, yeah, I mean, certainly signing, trade, I mean that's the most, that's the biggest thing. If you, if that team doesn't want to sign you as far as, you know, kind of relocate you to somewhere that doesn't have cap space and you can get something back for it.

[Brian Windhorst]

So. Okay, so in addition to Brandon Ingram, who may be else that is not on the front line of, of all this stuff, are you keeping an eye on.

[Bobby Marks]

Well, I mean, I think from a team standpoint, I think certainly Detroit. Right. I think that's, that's.

[Brian Windhorst]

I mean, I think $15 million.

[Bobby Marks]

I mean there's different ways certainly as a third or fourth team facilitator and you, you brought it up on TV like the new CBA. What the new CBA has done is it. We don't see the, the two team trades anymore unless it's Charlotte and Oklahoma City at night and they drop. They're swapping the second round. They're swapping second round picks here.

[Brian Windhorst]

That was a crazy, very interesting trade.

[Bobby Marks]

Well because they both had that like Denver pick in 2030 was like a different, different layers to that. I think certainly, I think Detroit is a team certainly to certainly to circle here. You know, the teams that we call them like the middlemen, the Utah's, the Charlottes, the as you mentioned, the Toronto, the Wizards. Wizards are another team.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right.

[Bobby Marks]

Just because they've got some big exceptions and they're well below the luxury tax. I would say Brooklyn, but Brooklyn's not in a position. I don't see a Cam Johnson trade out there.

[Brian Windhorst]

That was the player I would say three weeks ago we thought would. Was guaranteed to be traded, but there's been nothing with him.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah, nothing. You know, it's hard Brian, is that when you have Brooklyn and Oklahoma City and you know, San Antonio and Utah, Houston, some of those teams, when you have all those teams that monopolize the first round pick like you're. It's so hard to pull from because most teams have. They got two picks or maybe some has one that they're, you know the ability to get multiple ones in a deal is really hard.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, there's a, there's an imbalance that is happening with too many teams having too many picks and, and as a result you start, you're going to start seeing deals like the Suns made with the Jazz where they do a three for one where the volume of picks will matter less than the quality of the picks and teams will make moves to more balance out their picks. These teams that are pick rich, they don't want to have four rookies in one year. They have to move them around and it has to balance. You know, the market demands it. You can't have, you know, four teams with four picks alone in each draft. Like it's, it's not going to work. Oklahoma City is going to, they can't, they can't draft that many first round players. They will not be able to.

[Bobby Marks]

Well, that's why. Yeah. And that's why Utah did the trade with Phoenix where you basically you're consolidating.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right.

[Bobby Marks]

You're trading. I'll give you three of my Lesser for one really good one.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right. So I think that's what you will see is more picks like, more picks like that. Washington is interesting. Washington is guaranteed pretty much to have a bottom three record, but they are not guaranteed to avoid history for being the worst team of all time. They did get a big one over the weekend against Minnesota. I think they're playing tonight now that we'll reverse jinx them into victory tonight.

[Bobby Marks]

Well, and it's, you know, just, you know, 2009, 10 in New Jersey, we were 12 and 70.

[Brian Windhorst]

Oh, my God, Bobby.

[Bobby Marks]

And that was. You mean you look up in the standings and you're like 6 and 40 and you still got 35 more. 35, 36 more games wears on you. And I know where the Wizards are certainly trying to. And we wound up getting the third pick in the draft. The lottery odds were different then. And we end up picking Derek Favors. John Wall went number one. Evan Turner, I think went two. And it's a. Yeah, it saps the life out of you when you're 12. And when you're.

[Brian Windhorst]

That's a lot of bad days.

[Bobby Marks]

Oh, my God. We could write a book on that. I mean, like, listen, we had a voodoo. Someone who practiced voodoo come in and do stuff with our players, like right.

[Brian Windhorst]

Out of that movie the Natural.

[Bobby Marks]

Like we had a fight in the locker room between a coach and a player. I mean, we had. We had our general manager, Kiki Vanderweight, become the head coach.

[Brian Windhorst]

That's right. Oh, my God.

[Bobby Marks]

We had a lot. There was a lot of different. Yeah, that was one of the most bizarre years. And then Kiki. I mean, funny. Not funny story, but we were in Chicago for pre draft and Kiki had found. We. We were sitting in a meeting and Kiki had found out that he had gotten fired.

[Brian Windhorst]

Oh, my God.

[Bobby Marks]

From a press conference from Miguel.

[Brian Windhorst]

Coach or gm.

[Bobby Marks]

Both. Yeah. And. Yeah. So, yeah, listen, when you're. When you're where the Wizards are, the goal is certainly to get a top pick. But it does this year. Does it? Saps a lot out of you.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah. So the war. The Wizards are maybe potentially a little bit incentivized to avoid infamy. And they may not like, they're not going to like, trade for a player to get better. But, you know, I think the, The Wizards. The Wizards, quite frankly, they're not that far from the hinky zone. They didn't. They didn't name it. Trust the process. So it's not. But like, they're. They're. They're really bad and they're a ways away.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah. Two years away from two years away.

[Brian Windhorst]

And if you have the third. That's right. If you have the third worst record, you have the same odds as the first worst record. And they're guaranteed to had that 14%. So it wouldn't stun me if knowing that they needed to do something to take on some money that they, that they, you know, they have to spend something to get some assets that, that they would get a player or two that might actually help them win a little bit more and maybe not lose because they're losing every game by double digits. Like maybe make a couple of more palatable nights in the back half of the season.

[Bobby Marks]

Well, that's right. I mean, and then even if it's a guy in the last year of his contract, then as we were talking before it, and maybe you can kind of flip it into. Into something else.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah. So I also, you know, there's a couple of teams that just are just going to be generally active. Utah is probably not done. John Collins is an interesting name. Collins was a guy who we thought was going to Sacramento that was strong out there before they, you know, traded De'Aaron Fox. Collins has value and is having a good year. That's a, that's a player who, you know, Utah could sell, that could end up with a contender.

[Bobby Marks]

It's funny when, when John Collins signed the contract in Atlanta, you're thinking, man, this contract's never going to be traded. And then he goes from Atlanta to Utah.

[Brian Windhorst]

It took him a while to trade.

[Bobby Marks]

It did. He was basically on the block. And then certainly he's having a really good, a really good year in, in Utah right now. But yeah, I mean, there's another team that's kind of positioning for a top three, top three pick in the draft for sure.

[Brian Windhorst]

Anybody else? Yeah, I think Milwaukee, we talked about that a little bit on TV today. Maybe the deal will even be happened by the time.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah, Milwaukee's interesting just because where they are with the apron, second apron, you get under second apron, you get the flexibility of having your pick. They've lost their last two games by 55 points total.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, they didn't play anybody against OKC on Monday night, but.

[Bobby Marks]

And the night that I guess a couple nights before San Antonio drub them by 26, 27. Here they're an interesting. Because there are nights where they look really good and then some nights where they look anything close to being a top three team in the, in the Eastern, in the Eastern Conference here. And it's Milwaukee's an interesting because they've been in attacks for so long and they're spending here that they've got, as you said, like, some hard decisions coming up. Certainly. Brook Lopez, who could become a free agent. Chris Milton, who's there still there. Bobby Portis. The two main guys, of course, are untouchable for now. I mean, it's funny, I said untouchable, and then I think of Luca.

[Brian Windhorst]

Everything's changed. Everything. Perspective just changes so much. Bobby, there's going to be some stuff that doesn't happen on third by Thursday that's going to set up things in this summer. It always happens every year. Sometimes it's failed deals that end up leading to summer, but some teams that end up leading to deals in the summer, but some teams are going to need to do some business based on this. What are you looking at leading into summer that may not get settled right now?

[Bobby Marks]

Well, I mean, certainly the Lakers. Right. I mean, I think if they don't get a center and they basically go by committee for the last 35, 40 games, that's going to be a. A priority. The beauty of the summer is, is that there's always. What you don't know right now is that there's going to be a couple guys and there's going to be a couple teams that lose. Losing in the first round is always a reactionary decision. Or maybe if you lose in the NBA Finals, it's a reactionary decision like Dallas here with. With Luca here. But I think that's the biggest thing as far as certainly the Lakers as far as what they're able to do. Dallas is interesting, certainly, because Kyrie could become a free agent. That's.

[Brian Windhorst]

That's a huge thing. I mean, so Kyrie signed for significantly less than the max. A pretty big pay cut.

[Bobby Marks]

Yep.

[Brian Windhorst]

And he's played really well. And now he's their star guard.

[Bobby Marks]

Right.

[Brian Windhorst]

They traded their other star guard.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah. I mean, he's. He's got a player option, you know, with. In his contract there. I mean, certainly, you know, Brooklyn will be the wild card, of course, just because they're sitting on not just the draft picks, they're sitting on, you know, 65, $70 million in, in. In potential room average at best, free agent class to say. I mean, but we always say it's average at best. And then all of a sudden things happen.

[Brian Windhorst]

I know, I know.

[Bobby Marks]

Milwaukee, of course. Right. I mean, like, hey, you lose in the first round again, of course, we're going to probably hear whispers, of course.

[Brian Windhorst]

As far as what Happens with Giannis has made some comments over the last week that are. Make you scratch your head a little bit.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah, it's funny, I. He made the comments about European players being in big markets and I. The first thing I thought of it, the people. My friends in Denver are probably thinking, like, why are we.

[Brian Windhorst]

How.

[Bobby Marks]

How did we get a stray? He's like, our guy likes it.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yokich should be in New York. Yokich should be in Los Angeles. Huh? What'd you say? Giannis? Yeah. I don't even know. I had to go back and, like, try to find the whole interview because I was like, that had to be out of weird context.

[Bobby Marks]

Yeah. The. Honest had a couple. The last week has been some interesting. You know, he wanted to, you know, he had the Chris Paul situation, then he wanted to meet with Chris at half court to kind of like, talk things over and it's. And then he had the comments.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, he's like, I'll see. He's like, I'll see you after the game, Chris.

[Bobby Marks]

Like, yeah, no, I'm good.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah.

[Bobby Marks]

But, yeah, that's. You know, those are. I think Philly will be interesting. You know, we'll see Embiid, who's scheduled to play on. On Tuesday, come back and like, I mean, that extension hasn't even started yet. He still has 240 million left after this season. That's a. That's an interesting discussion to have.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right? For sure. Yeah. I mean, I actually think Kyrie is going to be a fascinating one. They're going to. And also Dallas, like, they are in super win now mode. And they may do some. They did a deal today with Caleb Martin. They may do some more business this summer. But I promise you, when we do our next podcast, which is supposed to be on Friday, unless there's an emergency one before it, we will have a lot to talk about what could happen with the summer. So, Bobby, I'm looking forward every year. Most years you've been in Bristol, but you have been out here before. You have this whole setup that you do on trade deadline day.

[Bobby Marks]

I used to. Well, besides, you know, my. My shoe collection that I brought out here, I, you know, about nine pairs of shoes. I heard. I heard the podcast when you had McMahon on about his shoe collection. So, yeah, I got inspired. I usually in the past, I had a big monitor that I would actually have a certain bag and I just wheel it because I need. I need a monitor.

[Brian Windhorst]

We would bring a giant monitor in.

[Bobby Marks]

A bag, in a travel bag, and I. Because I need two Monitors. Because I need to see things. Yeah. And then I went on, and then I bought a gadget. I think I might have been talking to it with my wife at dinner. And you know how things are on, like, Facebook when you talk about it, like, all of a sudden things pop up that's free. It's a connector that connects to my. Into my laptop and you can pull double screens from the side.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bobby Marks]

It's a, It's a cool little device exhibit, I think. I know I'm probably butchering the company.

[Brian Windhorst]

A lot better than having a suitcase full of just shoes and a bag with a separate giant monitor.

[Bobby Marks]

Four bags. As far as Bobby, when you're at.

[Brian Windhorst]

ESPN, there are literally 6,000 monitors.

[Bobby Marks]

But you know what? The beauty why I love. I like being out here too, is that I feel like when we're in Bristol, no offense to Bristol, it's like you're like, you know, it's like you're there, like you're not leaving. I'm not going for a walk, you know, I can't, you know, here it's like, at least there's the, the moment of freedom. I do miss the big. The chicken sandwiches from that cafeteria that I'm sure Shams is. I don't know if he's eating chicken sandwiches, but he's probably gotten accustomed to there.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, sure.

[Bobby Marks]

But yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's good to be out here. And we'll have a great show on, on, on Thursday. Hopefully some of the bigger stuff.

[Brian Windhorst]

Jackson, I don't know if you missed the hotel cookies.

[Bobby Marks]

I do. That's. That is my biggest arch nemesis is that rolling into the hotel at 2 in the morning and then eating two cookies, that's probably not good for you.

[Brian Windhorst]

There's a lot of stuff that goes on trade in that week that's not good for you in espn. Yeah, we sent Shams to Bristol. We said, shams, in your first year at espn, you're not allowed to be in la. You must go to Bristol. It's a rite of passage. You have to be there and make sure there's a snowstorm you have to fight through on the way in. All right, thank you for listening to Loop Collective. Thank you to Jackson and Rafa, our producers, and Josh, who's our special producer for the day, and Devin, all those guys. Thank you to Bobby for coming out and all the hard work this week. Who knows if this podcast is actually going to run in the form it was run? I really hope so. Because I need to rest tonight. And we'll talk to you later this week after the trade deadline.

[Bobby Marks]

In case you didn't know, these young men are driven. Quite remarkable, Magnificent and unmistakable. These are the prodigies, the savants, the ones we've been waiting for. And they are not asking for you to pass the baton. They are methodically planning the perfect moment to take it. A new generation of Toyota drivers are here, and they want you to know one thing. You can't stop my drive.